Flight to Frankfurt to resume from October 29

PUNE: German airline Lufthansa will resume its Pune-Frankfurt flight from October 29. It had suspended the service in July citing operational and commercial reasons. "We can confirm that Lufthansa will resume operation from Pune. The first flight will take off from the city on October 29. Flights can be booked through travel agencies or by logging on to www.lufthansa.com," a Lufthansa spokesperson told TOI. The flight will depart from Pune at 2.10am and arrive at Frankfurt at 8.45am. The resumption of the flight will provide relief to passengers from Pune who regularly travel to destinations in Europe and the US. The Pune-Frankfurt will be operated by Privatair. The airline had increased the flight in July last year to six times a week as against the earlier four. "It’s good news for us. My son lives in the US and is slated to come down in December. With the flight suspended, he was thinking of taking an Emirates flight from Washington DC to Dubai and a SpiceJet flight from there to Pune. That would have meant going through baggage checks and immigration formalities twice, which is a hassle," said S K Dixit, a resident of Koregaon Park.

Before the flight was suspended, there were several complaints from passengers regarding its sudden cancellation. The Lufthansa flight from Pune is the only flight which provides a direct connection to Europe. "My daughter recently returned to the US from Pune and due to non-availability of this flight, she had to catch a flight from Mumbai to Abu Dhabi and from there to her destination. I hope that Lufthansa doesn’t suspend the flight again as there is no other flight from Pune to countries in the West," Krishnath Shingote, a resident of Kothrud, said.